


Down for the Count

by Patomac



Series: Writer's Month 2020 [13]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Boxing & Fisticuffs, F/M, Flirting, Space Pirates, Spaceships, i think
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-18
Updated: 2020-08-18
Packaged: 2021-03-06 07:35:21
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,008
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25965979
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Patomac/pseuds/Patomac
Summary: Callie meets a handsome stranger while helping Korr in the boxing ring.
Series: Writer's Month 2020 [13]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1862173
Kudos: 2
Collections: Writer's Month 2020





	Down for the Count

**Author's Note:**

> For Writer's Month Day 12: Meet Cute

Somehow Korr conned me into being her ring girl.

The bell rang and she crashed into the ropes at the edge of the ring. Tiona slid a stool under her ass with millimeters to spare.

I squirted water into her mouth. “It’s not looking great out there, Korr.”

She spit blood to one side. “I’ve got him just where I want him.”

I glanced across the ring to where Korr’s opponent was slumped on his own stool. A bruise was spreading across one cheekbone, but otherwise he looked comparatively well off.

Korr let out a howl of pain.

“It’s broken,” Tiona said. She removed her hands from Korr’s nose and reached for a towel. “You’ve got to do a better job protecting your face.”

“I’ll keep it in mind.” Korr gestured at me with her chin, and I flung some more water into her mouth.

“Far be it for me to suggest just giving up—”

Korr and Tiona’s glares were practically identical. Eerie how that happened.

The bell rang. Korr launched herself back into the center of the ring.

What followed was a series of blows too brutal to recount. I’d seen boxing matches in vids before, but somehow what happened in front of hundreds of thousands of people in a planetside arena paled in comparison to standing ringside as two criminals laid into each other with bare fists. Here, you could feel the heat of the crowd in the packed bulkhead of the ship. You could smell the sweat and blood dripping from the combatants. You could taste adrenaline, sweet and tangy in the metallic soup of recirculated ship’s air.

The crowd roared as Korr dodged an uppercut and delivered a blow to her opponent. She followed it up with another jab and then a solid cross to his body. He staggered, and she pursued. She chased him across the ring and to the ropes, pummeling him more and more solidly each second.

The bell rang, and she withdrew. I got the stool this time. Tiona put her hands on Korr’s shoulders. “You’re amazing,” she said, digging her fingers in deep.

Korr swallowed around her mouthguard. “One more round,” she said. “I think I got one more in me.”

My eyes drifted across the ring. No doubt about it, her opponent looked a lot worse for wear this time around. It was absurd how much damage one person could do to another in just three minutes.

Korr’s opponent had two attendants as well. The older one was grey and grizzled. His arms waved wildly as he administered some sort of pep talk. The other was younger—my age, give or take a few years. His face was striking, with heavy-lidded eyes and angular cheekbones. Black hair, cut short on the sides and longer in the middle, flopped into his eyes.

He was staring right at me.

The bell rang. Korr flew off the stool, and I yanked it out of the ring. I wrapped my arms around myself as I watched Korr approach her opponent.

“Watch her footwork,” Tiona said. “It’s impeccable.”

It really was. There were no weight classes in the illegal matches on Hyrallia, but if there had been, it would have worked to Korr’s advantage. For a heavyweight she was surprisingly spry. She feinted and dodged, sussing out her opponent’s rhythm. His weaknesses.

Before she sprung her trap.

The other fighter missed a glancing blow to Korr’s shoulder, and she stepped into him rather than away. She landed punch after punch to his mid-section, pushing him backwards with every step. His hands flew up, protecting his face, but Korr continued to slam him over and over again in the body. She punched and punched and punched until the man crumpled to the ground.

She withdrew while he was on his knees. She stepped back, circling warily on the balls of her feet.

The referee slapped a hand against the floor.

_One…_

The screams of the crowd reverberated in my ears.

_Two…_

Their stomping feet shook the ship’s deck plating.

_Three…_

The bell rang. The crowd exploded, and Korr’s arms shot into the air, triumphant. She ran a wide circle around the ring, lifting her hands to the crowd at every side. Tiona and I took one look at each other and started screaming right along with the crowd. Korr spotted us and gestured for us to join her. We surged up into the ring, laughing and dancing.

Korr swallowed me up in a sweaty, bloody hug.

* * *

Ten minutes later, I shut the door on the ship’s freezing chamber. Tiona had stayed with Korr, doubtless for medical consult on her broken nose, but I’d had quite enough activity for the day. I walked down the hallway, ears still ringing from the crowd.

“Your fighter’s pretty good,” someone said.

I lifted my head to find the boy from the ring leaning against the wall. His hands were stuffed in his pockets. A blood stain lingered on his shoulder.

“Thanks,” I said. “Yours was good, too.”

His lip twitched. “Not good enough.”

I inclined my head. “He okay?”

“Hope so,” the boy said. “We need him up and running next week.”

I raised an eyebrow. “Another fight?”

The boy only smiled. “Another job.”

A shiver rolled down my spine. The Xaxaria was not the place to find legitimate businessmen. And there were worse than pirates aboard this legendary ship.

“I won’t keep you then,” I said, and turned to walk away.

“Wait,” the boy said. He leaned farther off the wall. “You haven’t introduced yourself yet.”

I raised an eyebrow at him. “Should I? Odds are we’ll never meet again.”

“I don’t know about that,” the boy said again. “Your girl likes a fight. She’ll come back for more. They always do.”

His smile was wicked. Unkind.

“I’m Bannon,” he said, extending his hand.

I eyed it sideways before clasping it with mine own. “Callie.”

“Nice to meet you, Callie,” he said. “Pity it’s not in better circumstances.”

“Yeah,” I said, fighting my own smile. “Pity indeed.”

**Author's Note:**

> I'm not sure this qualifies as cute, but flirting over bloodshed is the best my pirates can manage.


End file.
